a. and sb. [UN-1 7, 12.]
1. Not necessary or requisite; needless.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, xxi. 117 b. This vnnecessarie care that Peter had of another mans death [etc.].
1596. Edward III., III. i. 7. To lay aside vnnecessary soothing.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 49. To leaue behind vs our vnnecessarie stuffe, and to take with vs only such as … we stand in need of.
1655. Earl Orrery, Parthen., I. I. 81. If any thing could make me offended with Artabanes, ’twould be this unnecessary interceding.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. vii. That a prince … should, from a nice, unnecessary scruple,… let slip an opportunity … that [etc.].
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, i. This was a very unnecessary caution to La Motte.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., Introd. Ringing the dinner-bell—a most unnecessary ceremony for assembling three persons.
1898. ‘Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, iii. A generation … much addicted to unnecessary haste.
b. With indefinite subject (it, etc.), and usually const. to with inf.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxviii. § 2. The greatest part of the common multitude … who thinke it either vnmeet or vnnecessary to put them euen man by man.
1612. Jas. I., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. III. 104. To bidde a running man goe faster, quhiche is both unnecessarie and injuriouse.
1757. W. Pitt in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 214. His Majesty judges it unnecessary to send you particular Orders.
1771. Junius Lett., liv. (1788), 300. It is unnecessary to pursue the argument any farther.
1845. M’Culloch, Taxation, II. v. 201. This would be inconsistent alike with the objects and limits of this work, and it would, besides, be wholly unnecessary.
1869. Tanner, Clin. Med. (ed. 2), 10. It is almost unnecessary to say that mediate percussion must be employed.
c. sb. pl. Unnecessary things.
1559. Aylmer, Harborowe, P j. Vnfitting superfluitie in apparel, dyet, and other vnnecessaries.
1618. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, II. v. It contains nothing But rubbish from the other rooms and unnecessaries.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 113. Not to burthen my Discourse or your Patience with Unnecessaries.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), IV. 184. Wanting nothing but unnecessaries.
1839. Marryat, Diary Amer., Ser. I. II. 161. Very pretty did its little tiny black feet look, relieved by these expensive unnecessaries.
1881. Q. Rev., Jan., 51. Nowhere are the unnecessaries of life … sold at such extravagant prices as in San Francisco.
† 2. Not requiring much. Obs.–1
1605. Shaks., Lear, II. iv. 157. Age is unnecessary: on my knees I begge, That you’l vouchsafe me Rayment, Bed, and Food.
